Finally
by Broken Stone
Summary: Valera is furious with Ryan and they have an argument which ends in a rather unexpected way. For them, anyway. Now continued.
1. Finally

This is a one-shot fic. I wrote it one night whilst trying to avoid doing any other work. I wrote it because there just aren't enough Ryan/Valera pairings out there. Hope people like! Reviews are good and will be appreciated!

Finally

'Get out of my lab.'

Ryan stopped, backed up, and stared. 'What?'

'I said get out my lab. You're not deaf Ryan, for all that you're stupid. Now get out.'

'Valera,' Ryan said conversationally as she placed a hand on each of his shoulders and pushed him out of the lab. 'Have I managed to upset you in some way?'

She seemed lost for words for a minute then grabbed a handful of his shirt and yanked him back inside, the expression on her face furious.

'What do you think you're playing at?' she demanded.

He blinked. 'You just threw me out of the lab, now you're dragging me back in? You're yelling at me without an explanation, and you're asking what I'm playing at? Shouldn't that be my line?'

She muttered, 'Dumb bastard,' under her breath.

'Thanks,' he said, spreading his hands in a gesture of confusion. 'You done? Can I go? Or even better, can I get an explanation?'

'I think you owe me one,' she shot back. He had never seen her looking so angry. Annoyed, upset, close to tears and seriously hacked off, but never foaming at the mouth furious before.

Ryan took a deep breath. 'Let's start over. For the moment, Valera, assume that I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Let's assume I'm stupid and have the memory of a goldfish.'

'That's not an assumption,' she snapped. 'That's a fact.'

'Insulting me is not going to get us very far, is it?' he said from between gritted teeth.

'Makes me feel better, though.'

'Maxine,' he said as calmly as possible. 'If I confess to whatever it is I've apparently done, then you can hurl abuse at me. Not before. Okay?'

She scowled but nodded.

'Right. What have I done?'

He half expected her to throw him out of the lab again. Instead, she took a deep breath and said crossly, 'You wrote this and left it my locker.' She shoved a piece of paper at him. He took it and unfolded it and read it.

Giving her an annoyed look over the top of the page, he read aloud, ' Dear Valera. You're an ugly cow and I don't know how you ever managed to get a boyfriend. Even the stupid idiot you're dating at the moment. Who, by the way, is the single most useless pile of garbage I've ever had the misfortune to set eyes upon. All the same, he could probably do better than you. Lots of love, Ryan.' He gave her a blank stare. 'You think I wrote this?'

'Your handwriting,' she hissed. Now he saw that there were tears in her eyes.

'Not my handwriting,' he said, screwing the paper up. 'I didn't write this, Valera. It's close to my handwriting, I'll say that, but it isn't my handwriting - '

She slapped him.

He let a yell of pain and shock and stumbled backwards into a table. 'What the hell was that for!' he yelled at her. 'I didn't write it! I don't know whose idea of a joke this was, but I didn't write it!'

'I thought we were friends!' she yelled back. 'I can cope with you hating me, but why do something as vile as that?' She made to slap him again.

He lifted his hands to defend himself. 'Valera, stop!'

'What did I ever do to you!' she yelled. 'What did I ever do to you to deserve that!' She picked up a book and hurled it at him. He caught it and used it as a shield as she threw another one at him.

'Stop!' he said, waving the book at her. 'It wasn't me! I swear, it wasn't me!'

Valera turned on him. 'Oh, really? You expect me to believe that?'

'Yes!' He took a deep breath. 'Valera. I don't think you're ugly at all. I think you're beautiful. And yes, I do think your boyfriend is a useless waste of space, but I think you could do a lot better than him. So why would I write this?'

'I don't know,' she spat at him. Then stopped. 'You think I'm beautiful?'

'Um…yes,' he said in a low voice.

'Really?'

'Yes…'

'And you think I could do better than my – now ex – boyfriend?'

'A lot,' he muttered, no longer looking at her, face bright red.

'You swear you didn't write this.'

'I didn't write it.'

Silence fell over the lab.

'I'm sorry I hit you,' she said eventually.

'It's okay.' He touched his jaw gingerly. 'Just as long as it doesn't land me in hospital again, it's fine.' He gave her a lopsided smile. 'Are we okay now?'

'No,' she said shortly.

He blinked. 'We're not?'

'No. How come you never told me any of that stuff before?'

'What?' He gave her another look of total confusion. 'Oh…you mean…'

'Yeah. That's what I mean.'

'Um…I thought you'd probably slap me,' he said.

Valera shook her head, still not smiling. 'Ryan, for someone who's very intelligent, you can be seriously stupid and for a criminalist, you can be really unobservant.'

'Now you've totally lost me.'

She rolled her eyes, grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards her and treated him to a very long, very thorough kiss.

Ryan simply stared at her in astonishment. 'Um…' he said slowly. 'Why didn't you ever mention this to me?'

'Because I thought you'd noticed,' she replied and kissed him again, briefly this time. Ryan wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close again him. She closed her eyes and gasped softly as he pressed his lips against hers, slowly, tentatively. She lent forwards, leaning into the kiss. Ryan completely forgot everything else that had been on his mind, his mind instead focusing totally upon her. He even forgot where they were and what they were _supposed_ to be doing, rather more interested in what they were _actually_ doing.

Calleigh heard a crash coming from inside the lab as she walked past and stopped, looking inside. 'You all right?' she asked, sounding concerned.

Valera was kneeling on the floor, picking up pieces of glass. Her face was slightly pink. Ryan was also picking broken glass up off of the table. His face was bright red.

'We're fine,' he said to Calleigh, avoiding looking at her and hoping she didn't notice that a couple of buttons were now missing off of his shirt.

Valera got up, surreptitiously smoothing her hair down. 'Ryan tripped over and almost knocked the table over,' she said, smiling innocently at Calleigh. 'Broken a few things.'

'Yeah, I'm just clumsy,' he said, frowning at her.

Calleigh nodded. 'Okay. Just make sure you clean all the glass up.'

'Will do,' Ryan called after her as she left.

Calleigh went into the locker room. Eric was getting his things ready to leave. He looked up. 'Something wrong?'

'No,' she said, smiling. 'Ryan and Valera finally got together.'

'Finally,' he muttered. 'Alexx's idea worked, then.'

'It did.'

'I'm amazed it did work. And you got Ryan's handwriting almost perfect.'

'What can I say?' She grinned. 'See you tomorrow.'

He walked out. Alexx was peering through a window of the lab, grinned and walked on. As Eric passed her, she smiled and lifted a hand. Eric lifted his and gave her a high-five.


	2. Tell Us More

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI: Miami. Unfortunately. Am just borrowing and they will be returned undamaged and in their original packaging.**

**Okay, this started out as a one-shot fiction. Then I thought it would be fun to expand it and then it turned into angst. Lots of angst. I like writing angst at the moment. Hope you like. This fic starts off straight after the first chapter of _Finally_. Note: there are references throughout to my previous Miami fics.**

**I know I said I wasn't going to post this up before _Trail of Blood_ was finished because I wanted to keep some semeblance of chronological order going. I decided to forget it, because I've got writer's block over _Trail of Blood_ and I wanted to post this up. The fact that it should come after _Trail of Blood_ is NOT particularly important, though. Enjoy reading!**

**Tell Us More**

It was the next day, early evening. Valera was at her mum's house with her mum and her cousin Jessica who was at college in Miami and had come to stay for a couple of days. Maxine and Jess were quite close, despite the difference in their ages. Usually, she was more than happy to talk to her cousin, but today she had other things on her mind. One thing. Namely, a certain dark haired CSI.

She wondered briefly what would happen next. Whether he would call her, ask her out, or whether she should make the next move.

'So,' Leah Valera said to her daughter, 'tell us more about this boy you're dating.'

'He's hardly a boy, Mum,' Valera said, smiling. 'He's the same age as me.'

'You mean Luke?' Jessica said, curiously. 'I thought you were seeing him.' She thought for a moment. 'I don't like him. But you know that already.'

'She dumped him,' Leah said with a smirk. 'Not a moment too soon, if you want my opinion.'

'I didn't say anything about another man,' Valera pointed out. She handed her mother a cup of coffee and made herself comfortable on the sofa. 'Well, not until just now.'

'Tell us about him,' Jess said eagerly. 'Is he hot?'

Valera smiled. 'Very. You have no idea.'

'Who is he?' Leah wanted to know.

'Ryan Wolfe,' Valera said. 'He works at the lab. Criminalist. He's nice.'

'Nice?' Leah said, lifting an eyebrow. 'You don't usually go for nice, Maxine. You've always seemed to have preferred – '

'Bad boys,' Jess said with a wide grin. 'So what's he like?'

Valera looked uncomfortable. 'We're not exactly seeing each other,' she said. 'I just decided I didn't want to see Luke anymore.'

'Because you like this Ryan Wolfe?' Leah said.

'Partly,' Valera admitted, sipping her coffee. 'Luke wasn't right for me. Ryan's very different.'

'He'd better be,' Leah said darkly. 'That Luke, I didn't like him at all. He's rung here three times since you broke up with him. Good riddance, I say.'

'Wait until you meet this Ryan before you say that,' Jess warned her.

'You'll like him,' Valera told them both rather sharply. 'Like I said, he's nice.'

'Nice means boring,' Jess said.

'He's not boring.'

'Good, because you really don't go for boring guys.' Jess sniffed her coffee and drank it slowly. 'When do we get to meet him?'

'You don't,' Valera said decidedly.

'Oh,' Jess said. 'I want to meet this guy.'

'No,' she said firmly.

'Is he just a rebound?' Jess persisted.

''No!' Valera said sharply.

'She besotted,' Leah said, gazing at her daughter with a knowing smile. 'Aren't you dear? He must be something special.'

'He is,' she said reflectively.

'I want to know when we all get to meet him,' Jess said. 'We all met Luke pretty early on in your relationship.'

'You're not meeting Ryan yet,' Valera said.

'Oh.' Leah looked at Jess. 'Yeah, she's definitely besotted. It's only the ones she really likes that she keeps hidden. Come on, dear, when do we get to meet him?'

Right on cue, as far as Valera was concerned, the telephone rang. She heaved a sigh of relief that the subject was about to change.

'I'll get it.' Leah got up and went to pick up the phone. 'Hello?' she said cheerfully.

'Hi, can I speak to Valera – um, Maxine, please?'

'Who is this?' Leah said.

'I'm a friend. I'm sorry, I tried her cell phone but she didn't answer – '

'That's okay, she's here,' Leah said. She called over her shoulder, 'Maxine, it's for you.'

'Who is it?' she said, getting up and coming to the phone.

'Didn't say. Sexy voice, though.'

Valera frowned and picked up the phone. 'Hello?' she said uncertainly.

'Hey. It's me,' Ryan's voice said.

'How did you get my mum's number?' she asked curiously. 'Not that I mind.'

'Alexx gave it to me.' He paused. 'I've been trying to get you on your cell phone. I'm going out tonight, wondered if you wanted to come.'

'Where were you thinking?'

'There's a bar just opened two blocks down from my place. It looks a good place, I wondered if you wanted to go for a drink?' He paused again. 'I don't think we'll see anyone we'll know.'

'What time were you thinking?'

'About eight? That okay with you?'

'Sure. Um, I'm at my mum's – '

'That's okay, I'll pick you up from there. See you at eight!'

'Um, sure,' she said.

'Bye!' He hung up.

She blinked and set the phone back. Then she went back to her mum and Jess.

'Who was that?' Leah asked curiously.

'Just a friend,' she said. 'They're all going out tonight, wondered if I wanted to go. I said yes.'

'Did you really?' Leah said, interested.

'They're coming here to get me at eight,' she added.

'Better start getting ready,' Jess joked. 'You've got some things here, right?'

'Of course she does,' Leah said. 'She brought a heap of her stuff over a few days ago. Make sure you get a lift home, though,' she added.

'Hopefully, tonight that won't be a problem,' Valera muttered.

* * *

It was almost eight. Valera checked her watch time and time again, knowing that Ryan would of course be on time. She couldn't remember the last time he was late for anything. She had fretted over what to wear and decided on a dark purple top with a pair of jeans to make it more casual. Quick make-up, not too much, and just brushed her hair rather than fuss with it. 

She looked out of the window and saw his car pulling in. Grabbing her bag, she hurried down the stairs. Leah and Jess were looking out of the window curiously.

'Who's that?' Jess asked, peering out of the window. Fortunately, as far as Valera was concerned, they couldn't see him clearly. If they could, he probably would be hauled in for coffee and an interrogation.

'Bye!' Valera called, running out before they could question her further. Also before Ryan could get out of the car and get caught in a series of questions by her mum and cousin.

'Hey!' she said to him, jumping into the car. 'Drive, quick.'

He did so. 'What's the hurry?'

'My family are eager to meet you,' she said, smiling. 'Apparently my ex has been pestering my mum to get me to ring him, and he told her I dumped him. Now she wants to meet you.'

'You told her about me?' he asked.

'A bit. You know what families can be like.'

He shrugged.

'So, what's this place like?' she asked.

'Quiet,' he replied. 'Private and we're unlikely to meet anyone we know.'

'Is that good?'

'Yeah. Means we can talk.'

She smiled. 'Talk?'

He grinned. 'Sure. Talk is good.'

They reached the bar and Ryan parked the car. They went in. It was very nice, tables and chairs scattered around, a few private booths with table, chairs and candles. It was indeed very quiet, quite a few people but still quiet. And, indeed, no one that either of them knew.

They sat down in one of the slightly more private places. Ryan went up to the bar to get them drinks. He wasn't drinking much since he had to drive. He came back, set the glasses down and sat down opposite her.

'This is a nice place,' he said.

'Is that all you can think of to say?' she asked.

'Just be grateful I haven't mentioned the weather yet.'

'What's to mention? It's been hot and sunny for ages.' She sipped her drink, eyes holding his. 'Is this a date?'

'At the moment, it's two friends having a drink together,' he said.

She raised her eyebrows. 'At the moment,' she corrected, 'it's two friends who find each other very attractive having a drink together.'

'Despite one of them having contributed to the other almost getting fired,' he commented.

'Who should know that the other doesn't hold that against them,' she said. 'And who should also know that the other was almost beside themselves with concern when they almost got killed.'

Ryan blinked. 'Can we drop the third party act?' he asked. 'I'm getting confused.'

'Sure.' She drained her glass. 'This is nice. The drink, the place and the company, I mean.'

There was a short paused.

Ryan smiled. 'You look lovely,' he said.

She fiddled with her hair. 'Thank you. You don't look too bad yourself.'

He looked down at his glass, which was now empty. 'I mean it. You look amazing. I mean, you look amazing anyway…'

She laughed. 'Thank you again.' She touched the back of his hand gently. He turned his hand over and tangled his fingers with hers. They looked at each other silently for a minute, only their fingers touching. He lifted his other hand and touched her face, brushing her hair softly away from her face. His smile had faded and he looked very serious and intense. She found she liked that expression. He always concentrated intently upon what he was doing at any one time and right now he was concentrating upon her. The intensity in his eyes sent shivers down her spine, even as his hand on her hand and on her face sent warm flushes through her. His touch felt as if it were burning her, although the feeling was pleasurable.

She desperately wanted him to kiss her and closed her eyes in bliss as he lent forwards and kissed her, very slowly and tenderly.

Nothing like Luke. Nothing like Luke.

Sheer relief that he wasn't Luke flooded through her. She lent forwards, returning the kiss fiercely, untangling her hand from his and rested her hands on his shoulders, one moving up into his hair, the other trailing down his back, feeling the slight curves of backbone and shoulder blades under his shirt. He was smaller, slighter, than Luke. Not as intimidating, not as rough. Ryan was gentle but intense, whilst Luke had been rough and aggressive. She didn't want to compare Ryan to Luke, didn't want to think of him in the same thought as Luke. She hadn't let herself think about how wrong Luke was for her, to her, not until she realised that Ryan had feelings for her, that she didn't need to keep hiding her feelings for him from, not just him, but from herself.

Ryan broke away. He was breathing quickly. 'Wow,' was all he managed to say. 'That was – incredible.'

'You think that was incredible, you just wait,' she said, smiling archly. 'But in the mean time, you can go get us some more drinks.'

He smiled, picked up the glasses and went back to the bar.

* * *

'Don't walk me to the door,' she warned. 'Not unless you want to be dragged inside and interrogated.' 

'Okay,' he said. 'Why are you staying at your mum's, anyway? I thought you had your own place.'

'I'm in the process of moving,' she explained. 'I can't move into my new flat for a few days, so Mum's putting me up. I'll see you at work tomorrow, Ryan.' She gave him a kiss that was supposed to be brief but turned into a much longer one.

'Goodnight, Ryan,' she said several minutes later, and got out of the car and walked to the house, turning and waving quickly. He waved back and then drove out.

'Who was that?'

She jumped violently and saw her Mum and cousin peering around a door. They were both in dressing gowns and wearing identical expressions of curiosity.

'One colleague gave me a lift back,' she said, walking past them both. 'I had a nice time, thanks for asking.'

'Was it your boyfriend?' Jess asked, following her up the stairs. 'Ryan?'

'Ryan is not my boyfriend,' Valera said, going into her room and closing the door firmly in Jess's face. She heard Jess laugh. She kicked off her shoes, dropped her bag and collapsed onto her bed, tired, but very happy. It had been a great night.

* * *


	3. ExBoyfriend

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI: Miami. Unfortunately. Am just borrowing and they will be returned undamaged and in their original packaging. **

**Ex-Boyfriend**

'Can I ask you something?' Ryan asked Valera. There was a table between them. He was having to restrain himself from climbing over it and kissing her senseless.

She didn't look up. 'Depends what it is.'

'Are we going to tell anyone at any point?'

She still didn't look up. He found himself studying her profile, the serious curve of her mouth and the slight furrows in her brow from concentration, a few tendrils of hair falling over her forehead. 'Depends.'

He cleared his throat and said in a low voice, 'On what?'

She smiled, although she still wouldn't look at him. 'On what you're talking about.'

Ryan sighed inwardly and caught the small smile on her lips and realised she was playing hard to get. 'Well, let me know when you decide something,' he said, returning the same smile.

She nodded. 'I'd rather wait until – if – we get serious. You know? Everyone will make a big fuss and then…' She shrugged. He understood and nodded, showing that he understood.

'When will the DNA results for my case come through?' he asked.

'That's really why you're here, isn't it?' she said.

'Oh, of course,' he agreed. 'That's the only reason I'm here. I'm not here for any other reason at all. If I wasn't waiting for DNA results, I would not be here at all.'

'Of course you wouldn't,' she agreed. 'Get out, Ryan. I'm busy.'

'Sure. We still on for tonight?'

'Yes. Bye.'

He stepped outside and walked straight into Eric. He murmured an apology and looked back around the door. 'You will let me know the minute they're ready, won't you?'

Valera looked past him to Eric. 'Eric, please take him away and stop him pestering me for his results. He's giving me a headache. Valera, are they ready yet? Are they ready now? How about now? Now? Just take him away.'

'I think she wants you to go away,' Eric said to Ryan.

'Do you think?' Ryan said amiably.

'So, you two get on well?' Eric asked carefully as they walked down the corridor.

Ryan frowned and looked, as far as Eric could tell, genuinely bemused. 'We work together. We get on fine.'

'Fine? That's all?' Eric said, sounding puzzled.

'Why?' Ryan turned an innocent gaze on Eric.

'No reason,' Eric said.

* * *

'Remind me never to play Ryan at poker,' Eric said later to Calleigh. 

She looked up from the microscope at two bullets she was comparing. 'I got a match. Case solved,' she said happily. 'Why are you never going to play Ryan at poker?'

'He just as good as told me that there's nothing at all going on between him and Valera,' he explained.

'He's lying,' she said confidently.

'Of course he is. But if I didn't know otherwise, he would have fooled me.'

'Leave them alone,' she advised. 'If they want to pretend to not be interested in each other at all, leave it up to them. I expect they don't want everyone making a fuss right now. Which is understandable. I didn't want everyone making a fuss when I was dating Hagen,' she added reflectively, quietly.

Horatio stepped inside the room. 'Calleigh, you'd better have some good news for me.'

'I have some great news for you,' she said. 'The bullets match. Case closed.'

He looked pleased. 'Good. One more murderer caught. What were you talking about?'

'You recall Alexx's little idea?' Eric said.

'You mean the one that if it went wrong I was not supposed to know anything about in case it turned violent?'

'Yeah, that one.'

'Well?'

'It went well. Only a small amount of violence, with excellent results,' Calleigh said, not looking around. 'I think that we can also call that case closed.'

'That's your phrase for the day, isn't it?' Eric said to her.

'Yeah, it is. Now if you don't mind, I have a murderer to interview.' She gave them both a sunny smile and walked out of the lab.

'Excellent,' Horatio said, although it was unclear whether he was referring to Calleigh's case or Alexx's idea. 'Let's get back to work, then.'

* * *

It was at the end of the shift. Valera left without seeing any of the others; they were still arguing over how to deal with a new case that had come up, all had different ideas. The argument was friendly, however. She waved as she went past; only Ryan saw her and smiled in return. Calleigh and Eric both looked around but she had already gone by then. 

She checked her watch. Plenty of time to get ready and go to meet him. In the week since they had started seeing each other, they'd only been able to go out, to the wine bar a few blocks down the road he lived in again. It would be great to spend some time together, outside of work, without the risk of anyone catching them out. The risk had been fun, kissing in an empty corner or the locker room, but it would look very unprofessional if they were caught, and right at the moment she couldn't afford to look unprofessional. Horatio would probably turn a blind eye. Stetler wouldn't.

Her Mum and Jess were getting really interested and kept asking her when they were going to get to meet him. She wasn't sure she wanted to subject him to that kind of interrogation. Not at this stage, anyway. Whilst they both joked that they were only having some fun, she wanted it to become serious.

She left the lab, walked down the road. Parking had been bad that morning and she had been late so she had parked down the street.

'Maxine! Maxine!'

She heard his voice calling her, raised in anger, and started walking fast, her head down. He was the last person she wanted to see right now.

'Hey, Maxine, wait for me!'

Why couldn't he have been Ryan? She would have been glad, more than glad, to see him.

She slowed, turned and waited silently for Luke to catch up with her. 'Luke,' she said quietly. 'Why are you here?'

He stopped and smiled at her. 'I've been wanting to speak to you. Why aren't you returning my calls?'

'I thought I made it clear why when I saw you last week,' she said.

Luke brushed his hair back. He was very different to Ryan in almost every way. Very tall, big and muscular with floppy blond hair, small dark blue eyes, as opposed to Ryan's slight and compact build, tidy dark hair and large, expressive eyes.

'I wanted to see you,' he said.

'I can tell.' She carried on walking.

'I'm sorry,' he said.

Valera stopped. 'What? What are you sorry for? I broke up with you, why are you sorry?'

'Well, I must have done something to make you want to break up with me. Please, Maxine. I love you, don't leave me – '

'Luke, I don't love you. I'm sorry, but I don't want to be with you anymore. I'm sorry.' She carried on walking.

Luke ran after her. 'Maxine! Please!'

She turned on him. 'No, Luke! Just go! I don't want to see you anymore! Please, just go!'

He stopped and let her walk away. 'I love you!' he cried after her.

She didn't look around, just carried on walking.

'Don't walk away from me!' he yelled.

She ignored him and just carried on walking.


	4. Trouble on the Horizon

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI: Miami. Unfortunately. Am just borrowing and they will be returned undamaged and in their original packaging. **

**Trouble On The Horizon**

'Get me a sick bag,' Eric said.

'That's not very nice,' Calleigh said.

'You have no romance in your soul,' Alexx observed.

'I have plenty of romance in my soul, just very little slush.'

'I'd have to agree with that,' Calleigh said.

The three of them were stood in a row, peering into a window of the DNA lab.

'I think it's very sweet,' Alexx replied.

'It's sickening, is what it is,' Eric said morosely.

'You're just jealous,' Calleigh said.

'Of what?' Eric asked. 'He's just standing there.'

'Making big puppy dog eyes,' Alexx said. 'Give him some credit, the walls in this place are made of glass.'

'True,' Calleigh said. 'At least things seem to be going well.'

'For whom?'

The three of them all jumped together and turned around guiltily.

Horatio raised his eyebrow quizzically and looked past them into the lab. He smiled and said, 'No need to answer that. Work, please, team.'

Everyone grinned at him and hurried away.

* * *

'Go, Ryan,' Valera said, almost pushing him out of the door. 'If you keep hanging around here instead of working, Horatio is not going to be happy.'

'Okay, okay.' He didn't move.

She rolled her eyes, looking around to make sure no one was watching and kissed him quickly. 'Now go!'

This time he went, giving her a smile over his shoulder and almost walked straight into Horatio who simply said mildly, 'Look where you're going, Wolfe,' and walked past.

Valera looked up as Horatio came in. 'Hi,' she said. 'I've almost finished the samples you gave me.'

'That's not what I'm here for.' He lent against the doorframe. 'There's a man here to see you.'

Her smile faded. 'Who?'

'He didn't give a name, said he was a friend of yours.' He paused. 'Boyfriend.'

'Ex-boyfriend,' she said, sighing. 'I'm sorry, Horatio, I'll get rid of him.'

Horatio nodded and left.

She went along to the reception and saw Luke sat there, patiently waiting for her. She gritted her teeth and went over. 'Why are you coming to here?' she asked. 'I work here. I have a tough enough job without you making trouble.'

'I want to talk to you,' he said.

'I don't want to talk to you,' she said in a low voice, leading him away from the reception and stood in a corner where they would be hidden from most people who walked past.

'But I wanted to see you,' he said, trying to take her hand. She pulled it back. 'I want to make it up to you.'

'Make what up?'

'Whatever I did to make you want to break up with me,' he said earnestly.

She closed her eyes and snapped, 'You didn't do anything.' A lie, but easier than telling him the truth. 'It's just that I don't want to see you anymore.'

'Why?'

She could have sworn he was almost crying. 'I didn't feel we were going anywhere,' she said, the old lies and clichés falling out of her mouth. 'I liked you but I don't love you. Okay? I'm sorry, but you really need to move on.'

'I don't want to move on. I want you.'

'We can't always have what we want,' she said harshly.

The lift doors opened. Eric and Ryan stepped out, talking animatedly about something.

'I think she was coming onto you,' Eric was saying.

'I think it was highly inappropriate timing,' Ryan pointed out. 'Come on, an interview room is not the best of places to try and chat someone up.'

'True,' Eric agreed. Neither of them saw Valera or Luke. 'But she was hot. If she wasn't involved in a case, would you go for her?'

'Nope,' Ryan said decidedly. 'Not interested. She's a liar, too.'

'Let's get back to proving that, then,' Eric suggested. The two men left the building.

'Friends of yours?' Luke said, watching them go.

'Colleagues,' she said shortly. 'I work with them. I don't want people knowing about my private life. Go away, Luke, and just leave me alone.' She pushed him away and headed back up to her lab.

* * *

Although Luke's visit marred her day, by the time she left, Valera was in a much better mood. Ryan had also finished late so they went out for a quick drink together. He had to go and meet his sister because they were going out for dinner with some family, but he had time to have a drink and talk with her.

It was a pleasant couple of hours. They left together and stood outside for a while, waiting for Ryan's sister to arrive to drive him to the place for dinner.

'She's late,' he commented, looking down the road. Maxine took hold of his hands and said, 'Good. Means we have time for a goodbye kiss.'

He considered this and nodded. 'Yeah, I guess we do.' He bent his head and kissed her.

A car pulled up, beeping the horn impatiently. They jumped apart and Ryan made a rude gesture at the driver when he saw it was his sister, Sandra. She grinned at them both and made an impatient gesture for him to hurry up. He kissed Valera again and then got into the car.

* * *

Luke waited for Valera to leave work. He wanted to talk to her, but when he saw that she was leaving with a young man with dark hair, he decided to follow her instead and speak to her when she was alone.

For a moment he thought that she was just going for a drink with a colleague, not happy about it but he could cope with it. He followed Maxine's car in his car, and parked across the road from where she had parked. He watched them get out of her car, saw the man put an arm around her in a way that was definitely more than just friendly, and saw the way she lent in against him. They went into the bar and didn't come out for a couple of hours. But Luke was patient and he did wait. They came out eventually, laughing together. The man looked at his watch, down the road and made some clearly impatient comment. Maxine took his hands and kissed him.

Luke could have leapt out of the car and attacked them both. He was furious, absolutely fuming and was so angry that he simply couldn't move.

She had lied. The night she had broken up with him she had said there wasn't anyone else, that she just hadn't been happy with him. Now he knew. She had been seeing someone else, she had dumped him for someone else.

A car drew up. The man got in, was driven away.

Maxine watched the car drive away, and then she looked around and saw him. A flash of anger crossed her face and she turned around and walked away.

He got out of the car and ran after her. 'Maxine! Maxine!'

Valera stopped, turned and treated Luke to a furious glare. 'What do you want?' she demanded angrily.

He stopped. 'You lied to me.'

'Why are you following me?'

'Why did you lie to me?' He gestured down the road. 'You're seeing him, aren't you? You told me you weren't, earlier today. When you broke up with me you told there wasn't anyone else. You lied.'

'Luke, just leave me alone.'

'You're seeing him.' She began to walk towards her car and he followed her. 'So you did dump me for someone else. Who is he? Are you in love with him?'

'I don't see how my private life is anything to do with you anymore.'

'Were you seeing him before? Did you cheat on me?'

'I broke up with you as soon as I realised I liked him,' she said finally. 'I didn't want to hurt you.'

'So you did cheat on me.' He grabbed her arm. 'What did you do? Did you sleep with him before you called it off with me? Did you?'

She yanked her arm away, furious. 'How dare you? You think I'd treat anyone like that? I broke up with you before – anything happened.' She ignored the fact that she had kissed Ryan before breaking up with Luke; she didn't think it would be a good idea to mention that. 'Not that it is anything to do with you anymore.'

'How could you?' he said. 'I love you – I love you and you treat me like this? What did I ever do to you?'

She bit her lip hard to stop herself telling him exactly what she thought of him. She simply shook her head and carried on walking.

'Please, Maxine,' he begged. 'Don't leave me – I love you - I want you back – '

She reached her car, unlocked it. 'Nothing will persuade me to get back with you, Luke,' she said bluntly. 'We are over. I am not going to take you back. I've met someone who is better than you in every way. Now get lost. I never want to see you or hear from you again.'

He grabbed her arm, stopping her from getting into her car. 'You're making a very big mistake,' he snarled, leaning in close to her. 'Understand, Maxine? You cheated on me, you dumped me for another man. No one does that to me. No one.'

'Our relationship was over long before any of this,' she told him coldly. 'Long before.'

'You're lying.'

'No. I'm not. Now leave me alone.' She made to open her car door; he slammed his hand down on it and stopped her from opening it.

'You don't ignore me, Maxine.' His smile was gruesome. 'Not if you don't want anything to – happen – to your new friend.'

'What?'

'I can make him very sorry he ever took you from me.'

'Is that a threat?' she snapped.

'If you want it to be.'

'Well,' she said sharply, 'it hasn't worked. Because it'll be someone else in a while, I expect. I'm not looking for relationships, Luke. I want some fun. Something I didn't really get with you. This isn't about him, because he's just someone I'm having a bit of fun, a good time, with. End of story.' She was lying through her teeth, hoping he would believe her.

He laughed in her face. 'You serious? I can tell you think he's something special, so lying to me isn't going to work. He's going to be sorry he stole you from me. And so are you.'

'No, I'm sorry I ever met you.'

His smile vanished. 'You'll come back to me in the end. You know you will.'

'No. I won't.' She hesitated. 'But there's no point in hurting him. He's nothing, no one important. And you won't get me back, ever. It's not about him, it's about you and how I don't want to be with you, ever, so leave him out of it.'

'You're desperate to protect him, aren't you?' Luke hissed. 'Why? Are you in love with him? Why's he so special, Maxine?'

She shoved him aside and got into the car, refusing to speak to him even as he swore at her and hurled abuse at her and drove away, not daring to tell him exactly what she was thinking.

_Because he isn't you, because he's so totally different to you._


	5. Decision

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI: Miami. Unfortunately. Am just borrowing and they will be returned undamaged and in their original packaging. **

**Decision**

Valera had been having a very bad few days. Luke kept ringing her, kept turning up, trying to talk to her, kept telling her he loved her and wanted her back and beginning her to dump Ryan and come back to him. She refused and began to sense that he was beginning to get desperate to get her back. Now she beginning to get worried that he was going to try and force her to break up with Ryan. She was worried that he was really going to try and hurt Ryan like he had threatened. He had threatened time and time again that he would harm Ryan if she didn't 'come to her senses'. She hadn't really believed that he would try to hurt Ryan but as he persisted in ringing her and hanging around outside the lab and constantly trying to speak to her, sending her small bouquets of flowers and small gifts, all of which she returned, she was getting more and more worried. He was getting desperate.

It was a few days until she realised exactly how desperate. It was the end of a shift and she and Ryan were discussing a case as they got ready to leave work.

'Ryan,' Calleigh said, coming over. 'Have you seen your car yet?'

Ryan frowned. 'No. Why?'

'Someone's slashed one of your tires.'

'What!'

The three went outside to where Ryan's car was parked. Calleigh was right. Someone had slashed the front left tire.

'Someone slashed my tire,' Ryan said. 'Someone slashed my tire.'

'We can see that,' Valera said to him. 'You don't need to keep saying it, Ryan. Just stay calm.'

He ignored her comment, staring at his car in bewilderment. 'I didn't think I'd annoyed anyone that much recently.'

'Maybe it was just random,' Calleigh said. 'Someone not liking the police at the moment, or maybe they just felt like it. Or a bet. Or something.'

Valera was about to agree when her phone beeped; someone had sent her a message. She pulled it out of her pocket, read the message and went cold.

_Next time it won't just be a tire._

Luke. She didn't recognise the number; he had probably borrowed someone else's phone but she knew it was from him. He had done this. It was a warning and a message and a threat.

'Great,' Ryan said, raking his fingers through his hair. 'Just what I need. I can't afford new damned tires.'

'Your insurance company will pay,' Calleigh pointed out.

'Yeah, but I'll have to wait for the claim to go through. And in the mean time I still have to pay for them.'

'We'll process the tire,' Calleigh offered. 'See if we can pull anything off of it, maybe find out who it was.'

Valera wasn't listening anymore. Now she was worried. 'Ryan,' she said. 'I have to go, I just got a message from my mum, she needs me to rush home and help her out.'

Calleigh gave her a surprised look.

'It's important,' she explained. 'I'd stay but – '

'It's okay,' Ryan said. 'There's nothing you can do, anyway.'

'All right.' She glanced at Calleigh who said, 'I'll go and get my kit to try and get something off the tires,' and walked away.

Valera gave Ryan a hug. He hugged her back and kissed her. 'See you tomorrow,' he said.

'Right,' she said, not moving.

'I thought you were going home,' he said.

'I like it here better.' She looked over his shoulder and saw Eric and Horatio leaving the building, talking. They hadn't seen her and Ryan. She kissed him again very quickly, said goodbye and left.

* * *

Maxine got home and threw her bag down, pulled off her coat, kicked off her shoes and picked up the phone.

She called Luke's number and paced angrily until he answered. 'You slashed Ryan's car tire,' she said the moment he said hello.

'Maxine,' he said. 'How are you?'

'Pissed off,' she snarled. 'You slashed his tire!'

'Next time, it won't just be his tire.'

'Yeah, I got the message you sent. Leave him alone, Luke.'

'What's wrong, Maxine? You sound concerned.'

'Of course I'm concerned, you bastard. Leave him alone.'

'You keep saying that.'

'I figured if I say it enough times, you'll get the message.'

'I'll do what I have to do to get you back.' His tone was flat.

'Hurting Ryan will not bring me back to you,' she said, forcing herself to be calm. 'I thought I made my feelings about you perfectly clear. I don't want to be with you.'

'You so certain about that?' he asked, sounding amused.

'Yes. Leave Ryan out of this.'

'If I can't have you, no one can.'

'Luke, I don't want you.'

'You will.'

'No, I won't. I'm with Ryan now, and we are over. I'm never coming back to you.'

'You will.' The conviction in his voice frightened her. 'I won't let him keep you from coming back to me, Maxine. I want you back. He can't have you. I won't let him.'

'You are crazy,' she whispered.

'No, I love you,' he said calmly. 'If I can't have you, no one can. Especially not him. I'll make sure of that. Soon.'

He hung up.

Valera stared at the phone in horror for a minute. Then she dialled Ryan's mobile number. It was stupid of her, stupid of her to worry, because there was no way Luke could know where Ryan lived…but she need to make sure he was all right. She needed to hear his voice and know that he was okay.

It rang and rang.

'Come on,' she whispered. 'Pick up…'

He finally answered. 'Wolfe.'

'Ryan, it's me.'

'Hey,' he said, sounding pleased. 'Are you all right?'

'That was what I was ringing to ask you.'

'Me? Why?'

'What would have happened to me? Maxine? Is there something wrong?'

'N – no,' she said quickly.

She looked out of the window. Luke's car was there. She had suspected he might still be watching her, would have driven over to Ryan's instead of ringing him except that she couldn't risk Luke following her and finding out where Ryan lived.

'Maxine, are you okay?' Ryan sounded worried.

She hung up without saying goodbye. This had to end. She needed to do something to keep Luke away from Ryan, make sure that he didn't hurt Ryan. She bit her lip, torn by indecision about what she now decided she had to do, not sure whether she could. Her relationship with Ryan had to end, at least for now. Until she could get rid of Luke. If she didn't end it, the Ryan could get hurt. And she couldn't risk that.


	6. It Has To Be This Way

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI: Miami. Unfortunately. Am just borrowing and they will be returned undamaged and in their original packaging. **

**It Has To Be This Way**

When Maxine came into work, she was in a very bad, miserable mood. She snapped and snarled at everyone, broke several things in the lab and when Eric innocently asked if she'd had a nice weekend and if the results he'd sent in would be ready soon, she was so furious that he practically ran from the lab.

'Don't go in there,' he warned Calleigh. 'She is having a seriously bad day. Seriously bad.'

Maxine stalked out of the lab, shoved a sheet of paper at Eric who recoiled in terror and then stalked back into the room.

Calleigh looked astonished. 'She really does look angry. I wonder what's happened?'

Ryan came over. 'Something wrong?' he asked cheerfully.

'Valera is in a very bad mood,' Calleigh said.

'Think you can calm her down?' Eric asked. 'It's going to be a nightmare if she's going to be this mad all day. And something must be really wrong.'

Ryan shrugged and went in.

'Hey,' he said. 'How are you?'

She spun around, her stomach lurching in a pleasant way when she saw him and then tying itself miserably in knots. 'What?' she demanded angrily. 'What do you want?'

'Something wrong?' he asked, stepping back and frowning. It was an expression that was almost identical to the frown that Luke had always directed at her when he didn't understand. Except for one important difference. Luke had always frowned with an edge of anger and resentment whilst Ryan frowned at her with genuine concern.

'Nothing,' she said shortly.

'Maxine,' he said gently, 'I can tell there's something bothering you. Maybe I can help – '

'Just shut up!' she snapped angrily and saw the surprise in his face. It was going to be harder to do this than she had thought and she wasn't sure she could bring herself to do it. 'Just leave me alone! Go away!'

He took another step back. 'I'm sorry,' he said quietly. 'If you want to talk, I'm, here.' He backed away.

She took a deep breath. 'I won't talk to you. You're the last person I'd want to talk to. In fact, I don't even want to look at you. Go away.'

He didn't reply for a minute. 'All right,' he said eventually. 'Fine. If I've done something, I'm sorry.'

'Stop saying you're sorry,' she said, turning around so she didn't have to face him. If she kept her back to him she could imagine that it wasn't him, it was Luke and that made it so much easier.

Until she heard the hurt in his voice. 'I don't understand. I thought we were getting on well, I thought – '

'You thought wrong.' Her tone was hard. 'It's not working. I don't want to see you anymore.'

He didn't say anything for a minute. 'Can you give me a reason?' he said eventually.

She turned on him. 'No! It's my right to say who I do or don't want to see! Leave me alone!'

'And I think I at least have the right to know why you've suddenly changed your mind!' he shot back, raising his voice in anger and bewilderment.

She glared at him. Imagined Luke's smug smile and said, 'I just don't like you. I thought I did, I was wrong and actually, I can't stand you. Go away. Don't bother me again unless it's work related. That's it, final words. I don't want to talk to you anymore.'

'Valera – '

'Go away!'

'All right,' he said quietly. 'I'll go.' He walked out of the room.

She bit her lip, hard, to keep herself from bursting into tears. _Damn Luke. Damn him, damn him, damn him_.

* * *

'Trouble in paradise?' Alexx said, smiling.

Ryan was sitting in the locker room, his arms folded across his knees, resting his head on his arms. He looked up as she spoke. His face was very pale.

'Or just a very tough case,' she continued. 'Which is it, honey?'

'The first, I guess,' he said. He didn't elaborate.

She considered him. He looked miserable and confused and suddenly very tired, very different from his cheerful energy earlier in the day.

'You want to talk about it?' she asked gently.

He shook his head. 'Not yet. I'm still trying to get my head around it.'

'All right.' When he didn't say anything, she understood that he wanted to be alone so she left him and went to see Calleigh in her lab. 'Trouble is brewing,' she said.

Calleigh looked up from the microscope. 'Ryan and Valera.'

'How do you know?'

'They just had an argument in the DNA lab.'

'I saw Ryan all but in tears just now and he wouldn't say what was wrong.'

'Ryan? In tears?'

'Not quite,' Alexx admitted, 'but he looked like he felt like crying, if you see what I mean. What exactly happened? What did she say?'

Calleigh filled her in quickly. 'I think we need to find out what's going I'll. I'll tackle Valera, and I'll get Eric to tackle Ryan. Later, though, if Ryan's as upset as you said he seems to be. I'll talk to Valera after work.'

'Fine,' Alexx nodded. 'I'll go and check on Ryan.'

'You do that,' Calleigh said.


	7. Confusion

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI: Miami. Unfortunately. Am just borrowing and they will be returned undamaged and in their original packaging.**

**Confusion**

Eric shoved a drink under Ryan's nose and said, 'Drink it.'

Ryan did so.

'Now talk.'

'What about?' Ryan asked moodily.

'Valera. What's going on? Why are you two not talking?'

'Why should you be bothered?'

'Because you two were getting on so well, to put it politely,' Eric said. 'Now you're not talking.'

Ryan just looked at him.

'Don't tell me you didn't guess none of us had noticed,' Eric said. 'We are criminalists.'

'No, I thought you probably did,' Ryan said. 'Well, you should considering it was you who put that note in Valera's locker. You probably worded it, too.'

'You knew about that?'

Ryan finally smiled. 'Eric. I'm a criminalist too. Afterwards I took the note to the lab and analysed it. Calleigh is very good at forging my handwriting, but she didn't get it quite right and it was enough for me to work out who wrote it. Plus, I lifted both of your fingerprints off of it.' He spun his empty glass. 'Next time, you should take longer and maybe use the computer equipment. And wear gloves.'

Eric laughed. 'We didn't have time and we thought Horatio might not be too happy about us using lab equipment for the Plan, as Alexx called it.'

'Did he know about it?'

'Officially, no. If we got found out, he didn't know anything. Alexx thought the whole thing up.'

'Thought she might have.'

'So, come on. Talk.'

* * *

'How are you and Ryan getting on?' Calleigh asked Valera as they shared drinks in the bar.

Valera didn't look up. 'We're not.'

'You want to talk about it?' Calleigh asked.

'No.'

Calleigh sipped her drink. 'He really does like you,' she said. 'I thought you liked him.'

'I did. I do.' Valera knocked her drink back and slammed it on the counter so hard Calleigh was surprised that it didn't break. 'Things are complicated.'

'One thing I've learnt, Valera, is that things are always complicated.' Calleigh waved at get the barman's attention; he came over and smiled at her. He was good-looking and clearly liked her. She shot him a quick smile but was more concerned about the miserable Valera. 'Same again,' she said to him. To Valera, she said, 'Let me ask you a question. Is he worth it?'

'Worth what?'

'Worth the complications. Worth the trouble.' Calleigh nodded thanks to the barman as he brought them their drinks.

'It's not that simple.'

'No,' Calleigh disagreed. 'It is that simple. Either he's worth it or he isn't.'

Valera didn't answer the question although she thought about it. 'I can't be with Ryan. I can't even consider it.'

'Why?'

'I don't want to talk about it.'

'Refusing to talk about it isn't going to make it go away.'

'Maybe it will,' Valera said, sulkily.

'No. It won't. Why can't you be with Ryan?'

Valera sighed. 'I have enough going on in my life without complicating things further with Ryan.'

'Explain, Valera. Please. I might be able to help.'

'I have a boyfriend,' Valera reminded her.

'You mean you had a boyfriend.'

She laughed angrily. 'He says he loves me. I might be in love with him. Ryan's nice, he's cute, to say the least, but I don't know if I'm willing to throw away what I've got with Luke.'

'That's a lie, isn't it?' Calleigh said sharply.

Valera didn't answer.

'You like Ryan. Everyone in the lab knows it. We've all been trying to get the two of you together for ages and once we finally succeed – '

'That was you?'

'Yes, and don't sound so surprised and that really isn't the point,' Calleigh said. She sounded annoyed, unusual for her. 'The point is you were dating an idiot who is nowhere near good enough for you and Ryan's been to hell and back in the past year. You both deserve something good happening to you. As soon as it does, you throw it away. And for what?'

'Something better.'

'You don't believe that and neither do I,' Calleigh said.

* * *

'You must have done something.'

'I didn't.' Ryan glared at his glass. 'Or if I have, she won't tell me.'

'Then you didn't do anything and something else has happened.'

'Wow, Eric, your powers of deduction are amazing.'

'There's no need to be sarcastic,' Eric said mildly. 'Look, do you really like her?'

'Eric – '

'Answer all the questions I'm going to ask as yes or not. Do you really like her?'

'Yes.'

'You're certain you haven't done anything to make her angry.'

'Yes.'

'And she hasn't said what's wrong.'

'No.'

'And you're totally crazy about her.'

'Eric – '

'Ryan, yes or no.'

'Yes.' Ryan scowled.

'Did you steal my flashlight?'

'What?'

'Someone stole the flashlight from my kit.'

'Eric, you're mad.'

'Yes or no.'

'Is this relevant?'

'Yes or no.'

'Eric, have I ever stolen anyone's flashlight? Ever? It's usually you who steals mine, remember?'

'Yeah…oh.'

Ryan lifted his eyes to the ceiling. 'It was my flashlight, wasn't it.'

Eric nodded sheepishly.

'Get me a new one tomorrow.'

'Okay.'

* * *

'Don't give me that,' Calleigh said firmly. 'I know you like him. Why is this guy better? What has Ryan done?'

'He just isn't right for me,' Valera said weakly.

Calleigh gave her a hard look. 'Why won't you just tell me the truth?'

'Because I am.'

'And you're still lying.'

'Maybe I am but, and I really don't mean any offence, Calleigh, but it isn't any of your business. It's my private business why I called it off with Ryan and I really don't want to talk about it. Let's just say that I have my reasons and I am not lying when I say that they are good ones.'

'I wish I could say I understand and I believe you,' Calleigh said quietly. 'But I can't.'

Valera shrugged.

'There's no way I can persuade you that I think you're making a mistake.'

'You can persuade me I've made a mistake, but you won't change my mind.'

'That you say I can persuade you that you've made a mistake worries me,' Calleigh said. 'Because you obviously know you've made one.'

'And it's my mistake to make.'

* * *

'No luck?' Calleigh said to Eric over the phone later that night.

'None,' he said, sighing. 'Ryan really doesn't have any idea what he's done wrong.'

'Did you try to persuade him to try and talk to her?'

'Eventually. He refused. He says she doesn't want to talk to him and he won't push it. What about her?'

'Her reasons were stupid,' she said and filled him in on what had happened. 'And,' she finished, 'something weird happened.'

'What was that?'

'Well, after she said it was her mistake to make, we changed the subject and started talking about something else.'

'And?'

'And when she left to use the bathroom I stayed to look after our bags. There was man watching us, tall and blond. He was watching her and he spoke to her. She didn't look happy to see him and straight after she'd spoken to him, she decided to leave and go home.'

'Why is that weird?'

'Call it the criminalist intuition.'

'Fair enough. Are we going to do anything else about this?'

'I don't see what we can do. I say we leave it, try to cheer them both up and leave them to work it out for themselves. As Valera was so kind to point out, it's none of our business. I think she was a bit annoyed, although I'm not sure if she was annoyed at me or herself.'

'Ryan was definitely annoyed at me,' Eric said absently.

'Why?'

'I stole his flashlight from his crime scene kit.'

Calleigh paused. 'What? Never mind, let me guess. You borrowed it off of him and someone borrowed it off of you. Although why you felt it appropriate to bring it up is beyond me.'

'Pretty much, and I brought it up because I wanted to know if it was him who stole it and now I owe him a flashlight.'

She smiled. 'See you tomorrow, Eric.'

'Bye.'


	8. Into His Arms

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI: Miami. Unfortunately. Am just borrowing and they will be returned undamaged and in their original packaging.**

**Into His Arms**

It was a few days later.

Valera swore softly to herself, furious with herself. 'Now what am I going to do?' she muttered to herself, rooting through her bag. She had forgotten to bring her mobile with her and didn't have any change for a payphone.

She had gone out with some friends, no one from the crime lab. They had gone to a couple of parties and clubs. Not that she had been in a party mood, but she had thought it would cheer her up.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

The first couple of hours had been good fun. She had enjoyed spending time with some friends she hadn't seen for a while. They had had fun, danced and drank and had a good time.

Then they had moved onto a couple of different clubs and things had changed a bit. One guy had kept coming on to her, refused to take no for an answer and when she had finally given him a piece of her mind, had insulted her and sworn at her.

Then it turned out that the guy had a girlfriend who, realising that he had been hitting on Valera, had taken exception and started shouting and swearing at the both of them. Which, she thought, had been distinctly unfair since she had had no idea that the guy wasn't single and since she had told him to get lost herself several times.

No one else had bothered to take her side, most of them being too drunk or too wrapped around their various dates. She had finally left on her own, too angry to bother waiting for the others to get bored and decide to go home. Then she had realised she had no phone to ring for a cab, no change in her purse to call for one, the couple of people she had asked for change had ignored her or flatly refused and one man had mistaken her for a hooker.

She stood on the side of the street, desperately trying to find some change out of her purse when the guy who had started all the trouble came over. He had a couple of friends with him.

'You little bitch,' he yelled at her. 'You totally ruined my night, get that?'

'Great, because you ruined mine too,' she shouted back at him. 'Get lost, you loser.'

He came after her, grabbing drunkenly for her. 'You what?'

She yanked her arm out of his grip. 'Get lost!'

He grabbed her arm again. 'Listen, you – '

Valera shoved him backwards. 'I told you to get lost!' she yelled in his face. One of his friends pushed her back towards the first guy. They were both laughing at her. The first guy was laughing too, now.

'Hey, come on.' He pulled her arm again. 'Forget what I said just now. You look like a girl who knows how to have fun. You wanna come have some fun with us?'

'No.' Valera yanked her arm away. She took a step away. The last friend grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

'Come on, baby,' he said, grinning. 'You can't just go running away like this – '

'Not after all the drinks he bought you,' the second one said.

Valera stamped on the foot of the one holding her. He yelled and shook her arm. 'You little bitch!' he growled. Then he smiled. 'Wow, I like a girl with spirit.'

She hissed through her teeth angrily and tried to pull away again. Too much to drink had sapped at her strength and her coordination. He was hurting her arm.

'Come on,' he leered at her. 'Have some fun, baby.'

'Let go!' she snapped, trying to break his hold on her arm. His friends laughed.

'Hey,' a voice said.

Everyone looked around. Valera had never felt so relieved to see anyone in her life.

It was Ryan. He looked annoyed. 'She just told you to leave her alone,' he said quietly, calmly.

The leader stared at him. 'It's none of your business what's going on,' he said. 'She's coming with us for some fun. She's a fun girl.'

Ryan smiled contemptuously. 'Guys like you never understand that no means no, do you?' he said. 'Let her go.'

The man let her arm go, only because his temper was rising. She stepped away sharply. 'You're going to get yourself into trouble, interfering with people like that,' he said.

'It's nothing I can't handle,' Ryan said, still calm. 'Now go away and we forget this ever happened.'

'Nah,' the man said. 'No one tells me what to do.' He started rolling up his sleeves, grinning unpleasantly. His friends were also grinning.

'This is trouble you don't want,' Ryan said. He didn't move. 'Trust me, just go on your way without any more trouble.'

'I think you're the one who'll be in trouble.'

'I told you to go,' he said. 'This is your final chance. Just go, quietly.'

'Or what?' the leader said, glaring. Now he was really spoiling for a fight. He took up an aggressive stance again.

'Or you can get arrested for attempted assault,' Ryan replied.

The man grinned. 'You couldn't prove anything.'

'You want to bet on that?' Ryan pulled the side of his jacket, revealing the badge and gun. 'Attempted assault upon a police officer.' He paused. 'A CSI,' he added for extra emphasis. 'Or you can have another choice - you can leave now.'

They decided to leave.

When they had gone, Ryan turned to Valera. 'You all right?' he asked shortly.

'You didn't need to rescue me,' she said coldly.

'Oh, so next time I should just carry on walking and leave you to whatever trouble they were about to give you?' He put his hands in his pockets and gave her a dirty look. He was dressed smartly in a black suit and white shirt and she thought he looked great.

'You been out?' she asked, not quite daring to ask if it had been on a date and definitely not wanting to know if it had gone well.

He answered the question she didn't ask. 'Dinner. With my family. Again. I was driving on my way past when I saw you seemed to be in some trouble.'

'Well, thanks,' she said awkwardly.

'I'll give you a ride,' he said.

She thought of refusing, but she didn't. It would have been stupid to, even of she couldn't bear being near him, couldn't bear sensing the hurt he was feeling.

'Thanks,' she said.

* * *

'Thank you for the lift,' she said as he pulled up outside her apartment building.

'You're welcome,' he replied, his tone coolly formal.

'I was – just about to end up in trouble,' she said.

'I could tell.'

'Ryan – ' she began and then realised that saying anything was useless. 'I think I should go.'

He didn't say anything but as she moved to open the car door, he caught her arm. 'I really care about you,' he said. It was said with such genuine feeling, not expecting a reply but simply being honest with his feelings for her, she almost cried. She hated Luke for what he was doing, what he was taking from her. Hated him.

She lent across the seat and kissed Ryan on the cheek. Then, without realising she was going to until she did, on the lips. He responded hesitantly, clearly afraid she was going to start shouting at him, and when she didn't he pulled slid his arms around her, drawing her close against him. His hands were on her back, holding her against him. She ran her hands through his short hair, caressing the back his neck, sliding over his shoulders and pulling at the collar of his shirt, unbuttoning it and running her hands over his exposed skin. She could feel his heart racing, was breathing him in, feeling his hands running over her body, gentle but fierce at the same time, and she could think of nothing except him.

She opened her eyes for a moment, turning her head and stifled a cry of horror.

There was a man with blond hair walking past the building. For a terrifying moment she thought it was Luke, but she couldn't see clearly and he carried on walking.

The moment brought her to her senses. Or made her lose them, she thought later.

She tried to tell Ryan to stop but she couldn't. She couldn't make herself because she didn't want him to. More than anything at that moment she wanted to stay here, tangled in his arms. Wanted to ask him to come upstairs with her, wanted him to stay over for the night.

She forced herself to plant her hands on his shoulders and pushed him forcefully away from her. She yanked her hands away before she could pulled him back against her.

'Stop,' she whispered.

He stared at her. He was breathing rapidly and he looked confused. 'Maxine?'

'Just don't,' she said softly. He reached out to touch her arm. 'Don't touch me! Just – just stay away from me, Ryan!' She opened the car door. 'Leave me alone,' she added in a flat tone, giving him an icily furious look as he reached out towards her. He jerked back as if she had punched him. She couldn't stand to see the expression of horrified hurt on his face. 'I don't want you near me,' she said forcefully and slammed the car door. She didn't notice she had left her purse on the floor of the car.

Valera hurried for the door of her apartment building. She heard Ryan's car start up and drive away, fast. He wasn't going to come after her. She didn't blame him. She ran up the stairs, a hand clasped against her mouth to hold in her sobs, and fumbled for her keys as she ran.

She reached her apartment and unlocked it, slammed it, locking it, and collapsed onto the floor in tears.


	9. Break My Heart

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI: Miami. Unfortunately. Am just borrowing and they will be returned undamaged and in their original packaging.**

**Break My Heart**

When Ryan rang the doorbell, a woman who was an older version of Valera opened the door and gave him a questioning look. 'Yes?' she asked.

'Hi,' he said, holding out the purse Valera had dropped in his car. 'Maxine dropped this in my car. I know today is her day off and I tried dropping it off at her new apartment but she's not in, or not answering.'

She took it. 'Who are you?'

'I work with Maxine,' he said hesitantly.

'That doesn't tell me who you are.'

'Ryan Wolfe,' he said.

'Oh.' The look she gave him was icy. 'You're Ryan, are you.'

He paused. 'Why?'

'Oh nothing. Just you're the lovely young man who's dumped my daughter.'

Ryan blinked and stared blankly at her. 'What?'

'Forgotten her that quickly, have you?' She shook her head. 'Men.' The look of disgust she gave him cut him to the core. 'Why did you dump her? Find someone else to play with?'

'What?' he repeated.

'Thank you so much for making my daughter very unhappy. Now keep away from her.

'Didn't she tell you?' he asked.

'Tell me what?'

'I didn't break up with her. She dumped me.' He started to walk away, paused and said, 'Before you start judging me, maybe I should tell you that I really care about your daughter and that she's hurt me. A lot. Have a nice day, Mrs Valera.'

* * *

'Thank you for making look like a fool,' Leah said angrily. It was the next day and the first time she had managed to get hold of her daughter.

Valera closed her eyes. 'Mum, I didn't say he dumped me.'

'The way you've been moping around and refusing to talk about it, what did you think I would think?'

Valera shook her head, although the gesture was lost since she was talking on the phone. 'I broke up with him.'

'Why? He seemed nice. Well, he would have seemed nice if we'd met under different circumstances. You said he was. Has it turned out he isn't?'

'No, nothing like that.'

'Tell me. You sounded as if you really liked this Ryan and now you dumped him? He says you really hurt him. What happened, Maxine?'

Valera hesitated and then told Leah everything. She expected her mother to shout and rave, threaten violence against Luke and demand she tell the police.

Leah was silent as she thought and then said, 'You should tell him.'

'I can't. He'd be furious, he'd want to try and help and he has to stay out of this, Mum, or else he'll get hurt. Luke slashed one of his tires not long ago and he'd do worse if Ryan doesn't stay out of this.'

'Then tell the police, Report it to Horatio Caine.'

'I can't. Not yet, not until I can prove something.'

'You're putting yourself and this young man in danger.'

'Luke will lose interest when he realises that I mean what I say,' Valera said with a conviction that she didn't feel.

'You don't really believe that,' Leah said.

'Anyway, I have to wait until I can prove something. Until then it's my word against his and that won't stand up in court.'

'You had better do something fast,' Leah said. 'Or things could get very nasty.'

'They already are,' Valera said softly. 'I have to go, Mum. I have work to do.'

'Be careful, darling.'

'I will. Bye.'

She hung up as Calleigh came into the room. 'Valera, there's someone here to see you,' she said. 'In the reception.'

* * *

Jess was waiting in the reception to see Valera. She sat down, waiting impatiently, looking around with extreme interest at the people wandering around. Some were in police uniforms, others in lab coats, others in plain dress and looking around a little uncertainly, others wandering around with confidence.

A young man walked over, spoke quietly to the receptionist who regarded the small box he put down as he spoke with suspicion. Jess witnessed the amusing exchange between the two.

'Is this evidence?' the woman asked him.

'Yes,' he said patiently. 'Evidence. See? It says evidence on the box.'

'I'm just asking.'

'What else would it be?' he wanted to know. 'A birthday cake?'

The woman gave him a hard look. 'Make sure you take it with you, please. Last week Eric had a pile of boxes and left one here. Then he ran around all afternoon trying to find it.'

'Eric has a lot on his mind at the moment,' the man said. 'You should have let him know he'd left it here by mistake.'

'It was his evidence,' she said shortly. 'Here's the message that came for you.'

'Thanks.' He took the piece of paper and added, 'Anyway, I won't forget these. They're fingers I'm taking to the lab to be processed for prints and Horatio needs them as soon as possible.'

The woman gave him a look of horror and looked at the box. 'Fingers?' she repeated.

He smiled. 'You work in a crime lab. You can't be that squeamish.' He saw her expression and said, 'Come on, it's not like it's a severed head, is it?'

'I work on a _reception_,' she growled. 'Take them away! Go!'

He picked up the box with a wide grin and carried on walking. Jess smiled at him as he passed; he was cute. 'Hi,' she said.

He stopped, obviously assuming she wanted to ask him directions. 'Are you waiting to see someone?' he asked politely.

'In the lab,' she said. 'You work there?'

'Yeah,' he said. 'Can I take a message for you?'

'Yeah, tell Maxine to hurry up, I want to talk to her,' she said and saw the smile drain from his face. 'I'm her cousin,' she said.

'If I see her, I'll tell her,' he said tensely.

The penny dropped. 'You're Ryan, aren't you?' she said.

He nodded.

'Jessica,' Maxine's voice said, rather sharply.

Jess and Ryan both turned at the sound of her voice. 'Hey,' Jess said easily, and then to Ryan in a confidential tone, 'She's always late, isn't she? Have you noticed that?' She looked at Maxine and said, 'I came to tell you I can't make lunch today. I have an appointment, and you weren't answering your phone. Since I was passing, I thought I'd drop in and tell you myself.'

'Okay,' Maxine said shortly. 'See you later for dinner at Mum's.'

'I have to go,' Ryan cut in.

'Nice to meet you,' Jess called after him.

Valera glared at her. 'You mind not flirting with my colleagues?'

Jess smiled. 'Annoyed you, did it? That's why I was flirting, see if it annoyed you.'

'What?'

'I figured if you got cross with me, you do still like him.'

'You're an idiot, Jess.'

'Maybe, but so are you.' Jess gestured after Ryan. 'He's seriously cute. And nice. Why'd you dump him? Your mum says there's something going on with Luke.'

'It's complicated.'

'What's complicated? I'd choose that guy over Luke any day and I only just met him. What's the deal?'

'I'll explain when I'm not working and we both have a spare couple of hours.'

'Dinner tonight?'

'Maybe. Bye, Jess.'

'See you later, Maxine.'

* * *

When Valera went back to the lab, Ryan followed her into the DNA lab. 'What?' she asked him.

'I want the results I put in for processing, please.'

'Give me time to do them, Ryan. I'm busy.'

'Not so busy you don't have time to talk to your relatives. Look, I put them in yesterday and they're still not ready.'

'I'm doing them, Ryan,' she said, walking out and heading to the water cooler. She needed something to drink. He walked after her.

'Valera, those results are really important and you're just wasting time – '

That was unfair and she knew he knew it. 'But you had time to stop and flirt with my cousin, didn't you?' she snapped.

'I wasn't flirting, I was talking, and why are you bothered?'

'She's my cousin.' She stopped and got some water, but her hands were shaking and she had to be careful not to spill it.

'You really don't know what you want, do you?' Ryan said. The look on his face was one of mild contempt. 'You get something, you don't want it. You don't have it, you do want it.'

'What's your point, Ryan?' she asked coldly.

He shook his head. 'You made it pretty clear the other night you don't like me, don't want me near you. Yet when your cousin starts flirting, you turn green-eyed. What is your problem?'

_Luke is my problem,_ she wanted to say_. Luke is keeping me from being with you and I hate him for it. You are also my problem because I can't stop thinking about you and I'm totally crazy about you and I think I'm half in love with you. Which is also crazy and I'm terrified it might be true and the reason I'm terrified is because if Luke even suspects what I feel for you, I don't know what he'd do to you._

'You are,' was what she actually said. 'You and your inability to understand that I don't like you. Everything about you, in fact. I'd give you a list except we'd be here all day. I don't like you. I have no idea why I was crazy enough to agree to go out with you in the first place. I don't want you near me. Once you go away, all my problems will be over. I hate you. I told you that. I can't stand you. I can't stand you near me.'

Ryan looked down at the floor, considering a response. He looked up and gave her the most frightening smile she had ever seen on a human face in its misery and pain. 'You know, I really though you were someone special,' he said quietly. 'I really did. Turns out I was wrong. Thank you for disillusioning me. Now at least I know you're not worth the hurt you're putting me through. As if that helps.'

He turned around and walked away. Valera realised belatedly that everyone was watching them, almost everyone looking shocked or surprised.

* * *

'I thought you were a better person than that,' Alexx observed.

Valera looked up. Her heart sank. She had always been friends with Alexx, had always respected and liked her. She knew why the other woman was here. Alexx had become good friends with Ryan and she was obviously angry at how Valera had treated him.

It didn't help that Valera was angry with herself.

'Please, Alexx,' she said despairingly. 'I really can't cope with this.'

'Tough,' Alexx said shortly. 'Do you like hurting people? Not to mention humiliating them? Half the staff in this building heard that little speech and the other half know about it by now.'

'Oh.'

'He told me about what happened a couple of nights ago. In his car.' Alexx gauged her response and when Valera didn't say anything, she said, 'He told me he didn't hurt you. I believe him.'

'Ryan's not capable of that,' Valera said softly. 'He was – he helped me out, Alexx. There were these guys who wouldn't leave me alone and he got rid of them, gave me a lift home. We ended up kissing. Then I realised what I was doing was stupid, told him to stop and he did.'

'I know that,' Alexx said sharply. 'And that isn't the issue here. What is the issue is that he doesn't know what he has done. He says you don't know what you want, one minute you tell him everything is over between you two and the next you're kissing him and then the next you don't want to know him. That's what's confusing him and, frankly, what's confusing everyone else.'

Valera didn't reply for a minute and then she said, 'Why are you getting involved, Alexx? This is between him and me.'

'It was,' Alexx said. 'Or rather, it was until he broke in tears half an hour ago in my mortuary. He thinks you hate him, Maxine. He's confused, he doesn't know what's going on, what to think. He doesn't know what he's done to you to deserve this.'

Valera looked away and carried on working silently.

'Besides,' Alexx said. 'Even if you do hate him, did you have to do this at work? Thanks to the argument between you two, we have one lab technician who'll be lucky if she can focus for the rest of the day and one criminalist who's not going to be good for anything for the rest of the day.'

'I didn't mean to have an argument,' she said tightly.

'Well, you did.' Alexx shook her head, no longer angry but simply confused. 'I really don't understand, Maxine. I didn't think you had that kind of meanness in you. What did he do to deserve that?'

'I don't want to talk about it.' She looked away and heard Alexx walk away.

* * *

'I hear the lab all but fell apart in the time I was away,' Horatio said. 'And I seem to have lost one member of my team. What happened?'

Calleigh shook her head. 'I'm not really sure. Ryan and Valera had some sort of argument which has left both of them miserable. Alexx is trying to get some sort of sense out of both of them and failing, I think.'

'Definitely failing,' Alexx said, coming in. 'He has no idea what's going on and she's not saying. She's angry with him, I think, she'd have to be to speak to anyone like that, but she wouldn't say what it was.' She paused. 'He's going to help me out for the rest of the day, Horatio. I could do with some help with my paperwork and he's not going to be concentrating very well. He's very upset.'

'If Stetler comes sniffing around - ' Horatio warned.

'I'll make sure he gets an earful,' Alexx promised.

'Good. And someone see if they can get to the bottom of what exactly is going on around here. We can't afford technicians and criminalists who can't focus.'

'Easier said than done,' Calleigh murmured.


	10. This Has Gone Far Enough

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI: Miami. Unfortunately. Am just borrowing and they will be returned undamaged and in their original packaging.**

**This Has Gone Far Enough**

Valera was becoming increasingly frightened. Luke was now coming around to her apartment. He never did anything she could call the police about. He hung around outside, waiting to see her. He'd leave, come back or stay away at various times. She was never certain when he was going to be there. He usually wasn't there in the morning, for which she was grateful.

This morning she was running late. Mainly because she had been too afraid to look out of the window until the last possible moment and she had left it late. Then she found herself caught up in the traffic of hundreds of others trying to get to work. It was hot and humid and she was in a bad mood even before she reached work.

Her mood didn't improve when she got to the reception and was presented with a massive basket of flowers waiting for her there. The grins and knowing smiles of the receptionist and the other staff there made her even more irritable.

Until she read the card.

_I'm sorry. I love you._

Irritation gave way to a cold knot of fear. She ripped the card into pieces and dragged the flowers with her to the lab. Why he had sent her flowers at work, rather than her home, she didn't know. Nor care.

The first person she saw Calleigh who merely raised an eyebrow at the flowers. Valera flung the basket onto a table. 'Could you get rid of these for me?' she asked. 'Do you know someone who might appreciate some beautiful flowers? I don't want them.'

'Maybe you should send them to Ryan,' Calleigh said.

Valera looked confused. 'Why would I want to send Ryan flowers? He'd probably shred them and send them back.' The feeble joke was the only one she could muster and it left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Calleigh blinked. 'You don't know.'

'Know what?'

'Of course, you were late.' Calleigh hesitated. 'Ryan's at the hospital. His car got hit on the way to work.'

'What?' Valera went deathly pale and for a moment Calleigh thought she was going to faint. She caught hold of the other woman's arm and helped her to sit down.

'He's fine,' she said quickly. 'He's fine, but Horatio had him sent to hospital anyway, just to make sure he's fine. I think Tripp said he had a cut on his head and that was it.' She smiled. 'A lot of blood, but it was a small head wound. They always bleed badly. Nothing a couple of stitches won't fix. Valera,' she said gently, 'he's fine.'

Valera nodded, trying to clear her head.

'You do care about him, don't you?' Calleigh said.

Valera ignored the question. 'What happened?'

'Tripp says Ryan said that he was driving along the road, started to pass a red car at turning which accelerated and crashed into his car. Fortunately, Ryan saw it coming and braked. It hit the front of his car, and Ryan hit his head, but other than that he was fine. The other driver took off.'

'So he's fine? You're sure he's fine?'

'He'll be back here in a couple of hours, if I know him,' Calleigh said. 'Eric's at the scene processing his car, Tripp's there, he called the lab to tell us why Ryan wasn't here. He's fine,' she repeated. 'Like I said, no serious injuries. For Ryan's track record, it qualifies as a minor scrape.' She waited a moment and then said, 'I have to go. Are you going to be okay?'

Valera nodded and when Calleigh had gone, she stepped inside the empty DNA lab and closed the door. She pulled out her phone and dialled.

'Luke,' she said when he answered.

'Hey, Maxine,' he said, sounding delighted to hear from her.

'I told you to leave Ryan out of this,' she hissed furiously.

'I'm sure I don't know what you mean.' His tone was dryly amused.

'You hit his car this morning. Didn't you.' She could barely force the words out, she was so angry.

He didn't even bother to deny or confirm it. 'I told you. If I can't have you, no one can.'

'What are you playing at? Practically stalking me, scaring me, sending me flowers, hurting my friends?'

'Just remember what I said.'

'Leave him alone,' she whispered.

'Like I said. If I can't have you, no one can.'

'Don't hurt him. Please don't hurt him anymore. This is between us.'

He hung up.

'You bastard!' she snarled down the phone and threw it down onto the table. She slammed her fists down on the table top and fought to keep from crying.

'Do you want to talk about it?'

She spun around in shock.

Horatio stood in the doorway. He was watching her with an expression of concern.

Valera stared at him. 'I think,' she said eventually. 'I think – I don't have much choice anymore.'

* * *

When she had finished, Horatio was silent. He was looking down at the floor, thinking deeply.

'You haven't told Wolfe about this, have you?' he said at last.

She shook her head. 'I can't. It shouldn't be his problem and he's had enough to deal with this year – '

'It's your choice,' Horatio said, although he sounded dubious. 'I'm not sure that I agree – '

'But like you said, it's my choice,' she said quickly. 'I haven't told him and I don't intend to.'

He raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything.

'And there's nothing any of us can do,' she said. 'Luke will hurt Ryan if I do anything, if I report him, and no one can stop him.'

'You have very little faith in us,' Horatio said mildly. 'Actually, I have an idea that will mean that we can catch him and keep him away from you before he even knows the game's up.' He paused. 'It will mean something of a risk on your part, however.'

'I'm willing to take that,' she said instantly. She didn't say that right now she would do anything to make sure Luke didn't hurt Ryan, but she didn't need to. Horatio understood that.

His expression softened. 'Okay. This is the plan.'


	11. I Warned You

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI: Miami. Unfortunately. Am just borrowing and they will be returned undamaged and in their original packaging.**

**I Warned You**

'What happened?' Calleigh asked.

'Why does Horatio want me here?' Ryan asked, ignoring the question. 'I was told to go home.'

'Answer the question, Ryan.'

'Answer mine first.'

'Please, Ryan. Then I will tell you everything I know. Horatio has only just told me and Eric what's been going on.' She had a feeling that Ryan was going to be too angry once he heard exactly what had been going on that he would not be in any frame of mind to answer her questions.

'All right.' He thought for a moment, collecting his thoughts. 'I left for work my usual time. I was driving down the road, it wasn't very busy. I had the right of way and I was just passing a red car pulling out of a car park. As I came up to the exit of the car park, the car accelerated towards my car. I saw it coming and braked. It caught the front of my car and then drove away.'

'You're certain?'

'Yes.'

'Can you describe him? The driver?'

'I only saw him for a moment, but he had a big build and longish blond hair. No distinguishing marks and he was wearing a blue shirt.' He paused. 'Call me crazy, Calleigh, but I'm certain he was trying to hit me.'

'Why?'

'Because there was a space for him to exit the car park before I reached it and he only pulled out as my car came up.'

She frowned suddenly as if she had thought of something. 'A blond man, you said? Longish hair?'

'Yes. Why?'

'I don't think you're crazy, Ryan. In fact, things are beginning to fall into place.'

'Why?' He frowned. 'This is all to do with why Horatio wanted to make sure I came here and didn't go home, isn't it? Come on Calleigh, you said you would explain.'

She braced herself for a furious outburst and told him everything that Horatio had told her and Eric and Alexx. All about Valera's crazy ex-boyfriend.

Ryan surprised her. All he said was, 'I see. This explains a lot, doesn't it.' He pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket. 'I almost forgot. This is the make of the car and I managed to remember half the license plate. I couldn't get all of it on account of how my eyes were filled with blood and I was seeing double at the moment I saw it.'

'I'll give it to Eric,' she said warily, watching him. 'Are you okay?'

'No. I'm not.' He got up. 'If you don't mind, I'm going to go and vent my anger. Seen anything breakable recently?' He didn't wait for her to answer but walked away along the corridor.

She went to see Eric. He had lifted some red paint transfer from Ryan car and was in the processing of running tests on it. He was delighted with the make and license plate she gave him and started to run that through the database.

* * *

It was a little later when Horatio came in and said to Eric, 'You get anything on the red paint?'

'Not much on the paint,' Eric admitted. 'But when Calleigh gave me the details Ryan managed to write down, I got something else. Narrowed the field down, but I'm still working on it.'

'Right. Try this name – Luke Stephenson.'

'That's Valera's ex-boyfriend, right?'

'Yes, it is.'

Eric typed it into the computer. 'Any reason you didn't mention this earlier?'

'I was distracted and forgot what she said his surname was.'

Eric smiled grimly. 'Here we are. Matches the make, model and the second half of the license plate. You think we got him?'

'I think we might.'

'Are we going to arrest him?'

'Not yet,' Horatio said. 'We need some evidence that will make sure he can't get off of the charge by saying it was an accident.'

'Okay,' Eric said.

'Is Ryan still at the hospital?' Horatio asked.

'No, he got here about half an hour ago, like you told him.' Eric paused and said, 'He asked me to tell you that he's sorry but he's broken most of the department coffee mugs. He called it anger management and says he'll pay for them.'

'Understandable. Just make sure he stays here, Eric. Until we catch this guy.'

Eric watched him. 'You've got some other lead?'

'Hopefully, Eric, I will soon have evidence about this man. Keep working. We need to have a good case against him.'

* * *

Valera stood outside Luke's flat, plucking up the courage to confront him. She was furious, more angry than she could remember being ever before.

She knocked, loudly, angrily.

He opened the door and treated her to a wonderful smile. 'Maxine!'

'I want to talk to you,' she said.

'Come on in,' he offered.

'No. Here's fine.'

'If you like. What's wrong?'

'You know what's wrong.'

'Tell me anyway.'

'You almost killed Ryan this morning,' she said flatly.

'Not for lack of trying,' Luke replied. 'He has good reflexes, I'll give him that. If he'd been a bit slower I would have got him. Still, if at first you don't succeed…'

'Just stop this,' she said desperately. 'It's over between him and me.'

'Only because you think that breaking up with him will make me stop,' he said. 'I love you. I'm going to be here until you realise you love me too.'

'Why involve Ryan?'

'Because you care about him.'

'You stop this or I report you,' she said. 'I'll have a restraining order taken out against you.'

He took a threatening step towards her. 'You think a restraining order can stop love? I love you. I'm not going anywhere. A restraining order won't keep me away from you.'

'You do remember where I work, don't you?' she said coldly.

'That hasn't helped you or Ryan Wolfe so far, has it?' he said smoothly. 'Just realise who you love, Maxine. If you keep refusing to see I'm the one, the only one, for you, then I will have to take further steps.'

'Steps?'

'It's clear to me this Ryan is clouding your judgement. With him out of the way, you'll be able to see I'm the man for you.'

'You're crazy if you think I'll ever come back to you.'

'You will,' he said confidently. 'You will.'

'You hurt Ryan anymore, you kill him, I will hate you forever.'

'I'll do what I have to. For us.'

'There is no us. Leave Ryan alone, Luke. Don't hurt him anymore.'

'I'll hurt him as much I need to if it will make you see sense,' he said.

'Keep away from me,' she warned. 'Him and me. Get that?'

'You'll be back,' he shouted after her as she walked away. 'You'll come back to me in the end!'

'Never,' she said without looking around. 'Never.'


	12. This Is The End

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI: Miami. Unfortunately. Am just borrowing and they will be returned undamaged and in their original packaging.**

**This Is The End**

Horatio sat down. 'Tell me, do you know why you're here, Mr Stephenson?'

'Please,' Luke said lazily. 'Call me Luke.'

'Very well. Luke. Do you know why you're here?'

'No. I don't and I'm not very impressed at being dragged down here.'

'Your car was involved in a hit and run accident this morning.'

'Really?' Luke contrived to looked horrified and succeeded. 'It was stolen this morning, I was going to report it but your guys brought me here before I could. It was used in a hit and run?'

'Yes,' Horatio said quietly. 'It was used to try and kill a police officer.'

'Well, I am very sorry, Lieutenant Caine. I truly am, but I had nothing to do with it.'

'You're sure about that?'

'Of course I am. I'm very sorry – was the officer injured?'

'Nothing serious,' Horatio said.

Luke looked sympathetic. 'I'm glad to hear that. I would be horrified if my car was used to kill a police officer.'

'You didn't ask how I knew it was your car,' Horatio observed mildly.

Luke looked blank but rallied. 'I assumed you knew what you were talking about, but now you bring it up, how do you know?'

'The officer managed to supply us with the license plate,' Horatio said. 'Make, model, colour, and a description of the driver who matches yours.'

'Oh, I expect there are a few thousand men who are similar in description to me in Miami,' Luke said calmly. 'It wasn't me driving the car. I told you.'

'We also found red paint transfer from your car on the officer's car,' Horatio continued. 'We compared the samples. They match your car.'

'Like I said, my car was stolen.'

'You don't want to change your story?'

'No, thank you. I'm telling you the truth.'

'I wonder.' Horatio gave him a thoughtful look. 'You're the ex-boyfriend of Maxine Valera, aren't you?'

'I hardly see what that has to do with anything.'

'Having trouble letting go, Luke?'

'I don't know what you mean.'

'She's reported you for harassing her, for stalking her.'

'I'm sorry,' Luke said, smiling now. 'But Maxine is – prone to exaggeration. It's true I tried to persuade her to take me back, but I never stalked her.'

'You stalked her,' Horatio repeated. 'You've been following her, calling her, even after she asked you to stop repeatedly.'

'This is nonsense,' Luke said quietly. 'Maxine resents the fact that we broke up, she's trying to get me into trouble.'

Horatio didn't answer that. 'You couldn't cope with the fact that soon after she broke up with you, she started dating Ryan Wolfe. You threatened her, you threatened to harm him. You told her that if you couldn't have her, no one could.'

'That is not true.'

'You slashed Ryan's tire as a warning to Valera, didn't you? You refused to leave her alone, to accept her decision to finish with you. So eventually you decided to try and get rid of Ryan. You reasoned he was the only thing standing between her coming back to you. You tried to kill him this morning.'

'No.'

Horatio lent back. 'Are you certain you don't want to change your story?'

'No, I don't want to change my story! Look, Valera has been ringing me and coming over to mine – '

'Listen to this.' Horatio set down a small tape recorder on the table and pressed the play button. It began to play.

'_You almost killed Ryan this morning.'_

'_Not for lack of trying. He has good reflexes, I'll give him that. If he'd been a bit slower I would have got him. Still, if at first you don't succeed…'_

'_Just stop this. It's over between him and me.'_

'_Only because you think that breaking up with him will make me stop. I love you. I'm going to be here until you realise you love me too.'_

'_Why involve Ryan?'_

'_Because you care about him.'_

Horatio hit the fast forward button.

'_It's clear to me this Ryan is clouding your judgement. With him out of the way, you'll be able to see I'm the man for you.'_

'_You're crazy if you think I'll ever come back to you.'_

'_You will. You will.'_

'_You hurt Ryan anymore, you kill him, I will hate you forever.'_

'_I'll do what I have to. For us.'_

'_There is no us. Leave Ryan alone, Luke. Don't hurt him anymore.'_

'_I'll hurt him as much I need to if it will make you see sense.'_

Horatio stopped the tape. 'I call that a confession,' he said. 'Even if you didn't know you were confessing.' He gave a grim smile. 'She told me everything this morning. I sent her to see you, wearing a wire. You fell for a very simply trick, my friend. You confessed to the attempted murder of a police officer and to stalking Valera. It was you in the car this morning. We have fingerprints to back that up. And you saying it was you. So you might as well come clean now, not that it will help you much.'

'You ever been in love, Lieutenant?' Luke asked him. 'I love her. I would do anything for her.'

'Except what she asked you – to leave her alone and to leave him alone,' Horatio said.

'She cheated on me. She treated me like dirt. Like I was nothing.'

'She didn't cheat on you,' Horatio said. 'She didn't treat you like dirt, she was honest with you.'

'I love her.'

'You don't love her. You don't know what love is. You just wanted to possess her, you didn't want her to be anyone else's and you wouldn't take no for an answer.'

'He took her away from me. He stole her from me.'

'He didn't steal her,' Horatio said, disgusted. 'You drove her away and then you tried to force her to go back to you. And you can't even understand what you've done.' He got up. 'But you're going to prison, my friend, and you're not going to get the chance to do this again. Not for a very long time.'

* * *

She was getting ready to leave at the end of the day when she finally saw him. She had been to afraid to go and find him, had felt too guilty to go and find him.

He stood in the doorway, watching her. The lab was all but empty. He was pale, with a dressing on the side of his face. Obviously where he had cut his head in the crash.

'Ryan,' she said, not knowing what to say. 'I hope you're okay,' she said eventually.

'No, I'm not,' he replied.

'Ryan – I'm sorry - '

'Horatio says they arrested him,' he said, ignoring the apology. 'And he's definitely going to be charged. So he won't be bothering you for a while.'

'You have no idea how relieved I am about that.'

'I might.' He looked down at the floor. 'You know, I've had one hell of a year. It seemed to be getting better for a while but it turns out that's not the case.'

'Ryan – '

'Don't you dare tell me you're sorry.'

It would have been easier if he had been angry. But he wasn't. He sounded sad, more than anything else. His voice was heavy with disappointment.

'But I am,' she said.

'Are you going to tell me why you neglected to tell me your crazy ex-boyfriend wanted to kill me?' he asked bluntly.

She winced. 'I didn't know he was going to try and kill you – '

'But you knew it was him who slashed my tire.'

There was no point in denying it. 'Yes.'

'And you didn't tell me.'

'I didn't want to get you involved.' Now it sounded stupid.

'I was involved. He tried to kill me.'

'I thought if I kept you out of it then he would leave you alone.'

'This is the real reason you broke up with me. Why you treated me like shit.'

'I thought if I pushed you away, drove you away, then he would think I didn't care about you and he would leave you alone.'

'Do you think it worked?' he asked spitefully. He winced the moment the words were out of his mouth. 'I'm sorry. That was unfair.'

'I was trying to protect you,' she said. She was amazed at how composed she was. 'I was prepared to have you hate me if it kept him from harming you.'

'What I don't understand is why you didn't trust me enough to tell me. Why you didn't trust anyone enough to tell them.'

'You think it was a matter of trust?' she asked, astonished.

'You're saying it wasn't?'

'No! Of course I trust you!'

'Not enough to trust me with the fact that your ex had turned into a scary stalker type.'

'I thought you getting involved would end up with you getting hurt, Ryan!'

'If you had told me, maybe I wouldn't have!' He pointed at the cut on his face. 'I had to have seven stitches, Valera. I was lucky. I could have died.'

'You think I don't know that?'

'You obviously didn't think he'd really try to kill me or you would have told me! Or you simply didn't care enough to tell me my life was in danger, that your life could have been in danger!'

'I was trying to protect you!'

'Then you made a terrible job of it!'

'I was just trying to protect you,' she repeated in a whisper.

'I didn't need you to try and protect me,' he said dully. 'I needed you to trust me.'

'I couldn't risk it. Luke was threatening you.'

'All the more reason to tell me, to trust me.'

'It's not an issue of trust.'

'Yes it is. You trusted Horatio and that's fair enough. But you couldn't trust me.'

'Ryan – '

'I can't protect myself against something I don't know about.'

'I wasn't trying to get you hurt.'

'Now that is a lie,' he said harshly.

'Ryan – '

'You did hurt me,' he said. 'You pushed me away, you forced me away, and you really, really hurt me. More than anyone else ever has, I think. All you needed to do was tell me. You think I wouldn't have understood? That I could have accepted. But no. You didn't.'

'I needed to keep you away from me because he was jealous,' she tried to explain. 'I had to keep you away, completely away, so that Luke would have no reason to hate you.'

'But it didn't work like that, did it? He knew you were lying. He knew what you were playing at. Unfortunately, I didn't. I could have accepted that, Maxine. I would have understood. This – I don't. I understand why you thought you had to act like this, but I really can't understand why you didn't just tell me.'

'Ryan, I'm sorry.'

'I believe that,' he said quietly.

'I never meant to hurt you.'

He gave her a sad smile. 'Yes, you did. You meant to hurt me and you did. Even if your intentions were supposed to be for the best.'

'I'm sorry. For everything. Would you believe me if I said that I only did all of it because I wanted to protect you? That I thought I was doing the right thing?'

'Oh, I believe that. I really do.'

'I am sorry.'

'I know you are.'

She waited for him to say something else but he didn't. So she did. 'Where does this leave us?'

'Us?' he echoed. 'Right now, I don't think it leaves us anywhere.' He didn't sound angry; he sounded miserable. As if he was trying not to cry. Which was exactly how she felt.

'Can you forgive me?'

'I don't need to forgive you and you don't need to ask for it,' he said. 'You did everything because you thought you were doing the right thing. I can't argue with that and I won't. I understand that and please believe me when I say I appreciate it. Thank you for trying to protect me.'

'Ryan – ' she whispered.

'Horatio's given me the next few days off so I won't be around.'

'Don't go,' she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

He didn't look around. 'Goodbye, Maxine.'

'Ryan, please don't go.'

He stopped at the door, hesitated and then carried on.

She watched him go, wanting to go after him, wanting him to come back. She couldn't. She saw Alexx stop him beside the lift, saw her speak to him, a hand resting on his shoulder in a gesture of comfort and knew that this was hurting him as much as it was hurting her. She turned away so she couldn't see him, wiping her eyes even as she began to cry, determined that she wasn't going to. Her iron determination was crumbling. Leaving the room she crossed the lab to the bathroom. It was empty. She locked herself in a cubical and began to cry softly.

Hands up everyone who had tears in their eyes. Come on, fess up. I certainly did when I wrote it. I know, I'm sad.

* * *

_I know it's not a happy ending. But hey, I couldn't see things working out any other way at this point. I hope Ryan hasn't come across as an insensitive git, because that wasn't my intention and I wanted him to come across as angry and hurt.But there you go. Not everyone gets a happy ending, right?_

_There might be a sequel. I like sequels. If anyone has any ideas for a sequel, feel free to message them to me._


End file.
